


the way they tell the story

by tospreadthewingsofthesoul



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars
Genre: F/M, Fix-it fic, Okay but what if..., Seriously I need help, not that that ending wasn't perfect but, so many feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-08 22:39:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8866222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tospreadthewingsofthesoul/pseuds/tospreadthewingsofthesoul
Summary: We understand why the story ends the way it does. We understand the sacrifice, the courage and the hope. And we need that story. We need that ending. We need to remember why this fight matters. 
But what if they had had a chance to keep fighting?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who needs some serious helping dealing with that movie. So for what it's worth, this is me. Dealing. More to come, will add tags as I go along.

Hardly anyone remembers Jyn. They know who she is, of course, or they think they do. What was unknown about her, what is real and alive and exists outside of their perception, has been smoothed over. Every time they tell the story, they fill in the gaps, slot the few pieces they have together and don't worry too much about the blank spaces. 

In some ways, it's a tragedy, that there's no one left to remember the way she wrapped her scarves, always the same, or why she never sang if she could help it. No one would ever ask those questions; if they had, there would have been no answers. 

But in some ways, it's a gift. A benediction, to allow this rogue to finally be the hero she had the potential to be. Forget about what she could have done if she had lived; what was important to these men and women was what she had done with her death. It wasn't that she had laid down her life. It wasn't the sacrifice. They could all do that, and probably would. It was the _success_. Her death had meant life, meant hope and a whole new set of chances for them to take. That was what made her their hero. 

Everyone remembered Cassian. It took a little while, sometimes. He'd been clever, charming, well-liked, but he had also been away from the base more often than not. He worked alone, or those he worked with died on Scarif along with him. People had to sit still a moment, had to sift through their memories to find the morning they'd sat by him in mess, or the time they'd delivered orders to his bunk. Soon, everyone was offering their tentative recollections. Had he seemed kind, to you? He said thank you. He ducked out of my way while I was carrying spare parts. He'd told this one joke...

All that people remembered where what they knew of him, and sometimes it didn't match up. How could a hero like that always spit out his first sip of caf? Why would that kind of renegade take up so little space? People cling to what they knew, and made him real. If Jyn was a hero, Cassian was each of them. He stood in for them; they had the right to be proud of one of their own.

The stories were told, again and again and again. No one knew what had happened, not really, so at first no one told it the same. Jyn had been a traitor luring Cassian's team to Scarif, then turning on the Enpire at the last second when the Deathstar crested the horizon. Cassian had orchestrated the whole thing, a mastermind plot that sacrificed every pawn to eliminate the queen. There had been a Jedi with them, a Stormtrooper defector, a cantina singer. It took weeks for the facts to line up, for rumors to coalesce and the best story-tellers to refine their tellings. This was what they all agreed on:

Cassian had been theirs. Jyn was not, but she could have been. They took a risk that no one else was willing to take. They had saved the Alliance, and the galaxy, and they had died to do it. These were the truths that everyone nodded at over drinks and in quiet moments. Those were the things they knew. 

And that was why they were totally unprepared for the hangdog freighter that appeared in orbit around Yavin IV in their last few days evacuating the base, comming in requesting clearance in Jyn Erso's voice, and with Cassian Andor's clearance codes.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohmygoshyouguys! I've never posted anything before, and I didn't expect anyone to read it! You are all the best!
> 
> So more things happen.

Jyn's lungs stuttered, struggling to pull in air thick with dust and ionization. She tried to cough, but couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't-

Her eyes snapped open, and she flinched against the light. She gasped, pulling in heady lungfuls of sterile air, and clenched her trembling fists. The cool, flickering light of the medbay was disorienting, nauseating. Her heart still thundered, and her breath came in shallow gasps. She focused on that, on just breathing, on the way air entered and exited her lungs. In and out. In and out. It smelled of bacta, and Jyn crinkled her nose, then managed to open her eyes. 

She couldn't have been asleep for long. The bacta tanks still gurgled reassuringly; a pair of Healers huddled over a console on the other side of the room. They had been there when she fell asleep, she was sure. 

Jyn cursed silently, shifting to try and stretch muscles now stiff from sleep. She was still sore, though most of her injuries had been superficial. Mostly, she was exhausted. It had taken them weeks to limp back to Alliance space, weeks that Jyn had spent trying to keep her friends alive while she snuck them through Empire hyperlanes. The Healers had told her to try and rest, relax, that her body needed time to recover. She'd snorted, and dragged a chair from the mess haul to the medbay. She couldn't remember the last time she'd slept properly. Before Scarif, certainly. Probably before that blasted Imperial labor camp. Still, she should've known better than to let her guard down without anything or anyone at her back. 

Wincing, Jyn hauled herself out of the chair, checking the tank closest to her first. Not that the flashing lights or displays meant much to her beyond "operational". She checked them anyway, as if glaring at them would make them work faster. The Healers assured her that Cassian would be up and about in no time, that he was lucky that he hadn't damaged any major organs; he had a few cracked ribs, already on their way to healing when they'd made it back to Yavin IV, and some spectacular bruising. 

The Healers wouldn't give her a prognosis on Bodhi. She knew what that meant, what they were trying to tell her when they said things like, "We're doing everything we can," and "massive internal bleeding". She ignored them. If anyone deserved hope, it was Bodhi. She owed him that much. She pressed her fingertips to the base of the tank, but didn't look up at the body floating in it. Bodhi was going to be fine. 

Someone cleared their thrust behind her, and Jyn whirled, blaster already drawn. There was no time to berate herself, no time to think...

Princess Leia Organa eyed the weapon with interest, though whether that was due to the blaster itself or the way it shook in Jyn's hand was impossible to tell. Jyn clenched her jaw, refusing to be embarrassed by anything except the fact that she had just let a stranger sneak up on her. 

"I suppose you're tired of being reassured that you're safe here?" the other woman asked. She genuinely sounded curious, under the sardonic tone. Jyn slowly reholstered the blaster. The whole thing had been so quiet that the Healers hadn't even glanced up from their work. 

"On a Rebel Alliance base that's been evacuated in preparation for Empire retaliation? I'm not sure 'safe' is the right word."

The Princess waved a dismissive hand, taking a step around Jyn to inspect Cassian's bacta tank. 

"Nowhere is safe, not with the Empire in power. How are they doing?" she asked, gesturing to Cassian and Bohdi. 

Jyn had no doubt that Princess Leia received regular updates on their condition, which meant she was asking for some other reason. She clenched her jaw. 

"Well." _Not well enough,_ she thought. _Bodhi needs more time than we have. We can't stay here, but we can't take him with us like this, either._ Jyn pushed those thoughts aside. She would have that fight again when it came up, and not before. 

If the Princess noticed Jyn's attitude, she didn't say anything. 

"You know, you just missed the ceremony. There were medals."

Jyn shrugged. She'd been more disappointed to miss the destruction of the Deathstar, to be honest. Her father had given his whole life to sabotage it, and she hadn't even been here to see it destroyed. She'd been officially briefed, in an apologetic tone, as if the Alliance felt guilty for having found newer, bolder heroes than an Imperial scientist's daughter and a spy. She hadn't expected someone like Solo to join the Alliance, but desperate times, she supposed. She hadn't expected to join the cause either. 

Princess Leia continued. 

"Both of you were awarded medals, posthumously. You and Cassian, I mean. We didn't know about Bodhi, or Chirrat and Baze. I have them, if you'd like them."

Jyn shrugged again. 

The silence stretched on, the Princess apparently content to watch Cassian float in bacta forever. 

"Why are you here?" Jyn asked, and the Princess finally turned. There was a glint in her eyes Jyn recognized, a defiance and an excitement at the same time. 

"I'm here to find out what you're going to do next."

Jyn folded her arms, refusing to break eye contact. 

"What, do you think I'm going to run off to the Empire?"

The Princess smiled the coldest, hardest, sweetest smile Jyn had ever seen. She was starting to understand how a woman who floated around in white dresses could command the attention of entire fleets. 

"I hadn't been, until you just said it."

It was a bluff, and they both knew it. Jyn had lost too much to the Empire to ever side with them. In truth, she had made her choice, if not always for the same reasons the Alliance did. It was hard to realize that no one else had been there; no one else had listened to Kaytoo sacrifice himself; no one else had knelt on that beach and let death come to them. As far as the Alliance knew, she was a wild card; shown up out of nowhere, and gone again just as fast. 

Right now, she had bigger things to worry about than what the Alliance thought of her. Bodhi, for one. 

She squared her shoulders. 

"I'm not going anywhere. Not until Cassian and Bodhi have recovered. And it won't look good if you try to make me."

The Princess actually sighed, relief dripping from her posture. 

"Well thank Force for that. You understand how it would look bad, if you came back from the dead, then just took off."

Jyn stared, dumbstruck. She hadn't thought of that, actually. She hadn't thought of much of anything beyond survival until they had made it to Yavin IV, and she honestly couldn't remember most of her debriefings. 

The Princess turned back to the bacta tanks, all efficiency again. 

"We'll need to make arrangements. We're evacuating the entire base, and the Healers tell me that Master Rook is too delicate to be taken out of the bacta, and the tanks themselves can't be moved while occupied. We can leave a small contingent here, but not enough to provide any real defenses if the Empire comes calling."

Jyn shook her head, relief bubbling up in her chest. The Council had been talking about leaving, hinting that it was better to leave one man behind, even a war hero, than to risk any others. Others had showed obvious disconcern , certain that he wouldn't live long enough for it to be an issue. Jyn had vague memories of screaming at them, and eventually being sedated and waking up in the medbay. But this...

"That won't be necessary," she insisted, tripping over her words. "All we need is a ship, supplies. If the Empire comes, then I'll have some surprises waiting. If not... " she trailed off, "I won't leave them."

The Princess watched her with a calculating tilt to her head, then nodded. 

"Very well. I won't require anyone to stay, and we will need the Healers too badly to leave any here. But I'm certain that they can program a droid to help you, and we already have volunteer pilots staying until the last possible moment."

Princess Leia fixed her with a look so intense that Jyn could nearly push back on it, feel the resistance in her chest. 

"You do realize that eventually the power will run out? That supplies will only last so long, and if you stay too long, you may not be able to leave?"

Jyn nodded curtly. It wasn't a question that deserved an answer. Hadn't she proven to them that she was willing to take whatever risks she needed to? She had thought her chances had run out once; she wasn't going to squander them now. 

Princess Leia nodded back in agreement. 

"Very well. I'll make the arrangements. And Jyn?" she threw over her shoulder as she left. "We'll be in Hoth, when you're ready."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise I'm going somewhere with this. I'm not 100% sure where yet, but I have ideas. Also, I am definitely not doing the Star Wars 'verse I should - mostly because I'm research trying to actually get new chapters out more quickly than not. So if I screw something up, let me know, and I'll fix it. 
> 
> You guys give me life. Enjoy.

The base emptied faster than Jyn would've expected. Part of the reason that she had avoided working with others for so long was that they slowed you down, cut your reaction time. She half expected the Alliance to still be packing their bags when the Empire finally managed to retaliate. 

But things worked efficiently here, everyone putting in long hard hours, mostly without complaint. People knew what they were meant to be doing, what they were capable of, responsible for. Jyn was impressed in spite of herself when two days later, the last freighter jumped into hyperspace. She had met with a few of those Rebels before they boarded, received quick briefings on the generators and defense towers and communications arrays. She wasn't particularly mechanically inclined, but she would manage. 

Jyn stood on the top of the tallest ruined temple, and couldn't help but raise a hand in farewell as the freighter left orbit, then disappeared in a pinprick flash. She stood there for a long time, a bare foot-length from the edge. The planet cut the horizon in two this close to sunset, hanging overhead. Jyn couldn't help feeling that that strip of blue-green sky was her last chance at freedom, and as the moon rotated and the planet slung lower, it was narrowing until it would disappear entirely. 

Jyn shook her head once, then turned on her heel to head back down to the medbay. She still had work to do. 

***

The empty base echoed. It had started to feel eerie as the bustle had died down, the chaos fading to a poised silence. Jyn had forgotten, when the temples had been crowded with people and ships and whatever scavenged pieces of lives people managed to hang on to, how ancient these halls were. There was nothing menacing in the quiet, but Jyn couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched. Weighed. Assessed for flaws and intentions and danger. It was unnerving, and Jyn kept her blaster close, and if sometimes she pressed her back against warm stone corners, ducking her head around them to check for hostiles... well, there was no one around to see. 

The machinery that kept the base habitable took up most of Jyn's evening, especially since she kept detouring back down to the medbay. The med droid the Healers had left was monitoring the tanks constantly, but Jyn started feeling restless and fidgety if she didn't check in herself at least every hour. The droid - a coolly polite unite called AR-N12 - seemed completely nonplussed by Jyn's frequent interruptions. 

It wasn't until Jyn was finishing her final daily maintenance on the ship the Princess had left for them that AR-N commed her. Jyn's heart seized. 

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"There have been no medical complications," AR-N reported dispassionately. "I am programmed to inform you when Captain Andor is ready to be removed from the bacta."

Jyn swallowed around her tight throat. 

"Do it. I'll be right there."

"He will not regain consciousness for some time. Your presence will not be required until then."

Jyn clenched her fist around the com, took a deep breath. She still had a little maintenance work to do, or she'd just have to come back to it afterwards. 

"Fine. I'll be there as soon as I've finished here."

Jyn knew better than to rush through spacecraft checks, but she moved as quickly as possible anyway, stopping herself to double-check anything she didn't have a clear memory of doing. When she had finally, finally finished, she didn't run to the medbay, but it was a near thing. 

Cassian was still asleep, tucked into one of the three beds left in the medbay, while AR-N bustled around him. The droid began reporting as soon as Jyn entered, but Jyn ignored them, only nodding occasionally. All her attention was on Cassian. 

The bacta had healed the scrapes and bruises she'd plastered after Scarif. She'd grown so used to them, to the layer of grime and untrimmed scruff, that he looked odd without them. Jyn stood close enough to reach out and touch him, but didn't move. Couldn't move. He was going to be alright. He was fine. He'd made it. 

Jyn reached out a trembling hand, barely noticing that AR-N had trailed off, watching her. Her fingertips brushed against the back of his hand. It was warm, and whole. 

A sob bubbled in Jyn's throat, and she clapped her hand to her mouth to keep it in. She realized she was clutching his hand, and she couldn't seem to let go. She sunk down onto the edge of the bed, head ducked and jaw clenched against tears. 

His fingers curled. Jyn's snapped up, just in time to see Cassian crack his eyes open. 

"Bleegh," he managed, and Jyn snorted a laugh. 

"Good morning to you too," she whispered, and he finally managed to open his eyes all the way. 

"Jyn," he murmured in reply, his voice still rough. "Stardust."

Jyn realized she was crying after all. 

She squeezed his hand. "Welcome home."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. Alright. I know it's been... awhile. I could give you excuses about my life being crazy because I've been traveling for work. And that's exactly what I'm going to do because I am a pathetic human being who craves your forgiveness. 
> 
> I promise I haven't forgotten this story. This chapter is really short, but I wanted to get something up for y'all since you've been so so so good to me. After this chapter, we're going to spend some time jumping forward in time, skipping things you already know that happened, stuff like that. If there's anything in particular you're dying to see, let me know! I am always open to suggestions!

Something heavy and quiet hung over them while they waited. Days passed, and though Jyn spent every spare moment in the medbay they barely spoke. She was grateful for it. The strange fragile thing between them was cushioned by the silence. There were no rash-spoken words to shatter it, because there were no words at all. There was only a strange mix of dread and fierce hope, softened by the still hours they spent watching the tank where Bodhi still floated. 

It was another week later that AR-N12 (who had condescended to allow them to call them Aren, after some persistence) reported change. 

"It seems that the patient's internal injuries are beginning to heal."

Jyn let out a sound, some sort of breathy laughing sob that she couldn't even identify. Cassian's eyes widened, and his smile lit up. He turned to Jyn, but she was hunched over on the bed, shoulders heaving. He pressed just his fingertips to her shoulder. 

"He's going to be alright," he murmured. 

Jyn nodded, and managed a creaky, "Yes," in response. 

It was still several days before Bodhi was well enough to sleep in a real bed, days which Jyn and Cassian spent in intense and efficient preparation. They huddled around flickering charts, checked off lists of supplies. They couldn't contact the Rebellion until they left; the risk of interception was too high. 

Cassian swore softly in another language when Jyn told her where the Rebels had gone. At first, she thought it was just dreading the cold, but then he shook his head. 

"I can't believe she told you. She should know better."

Jyn stifled her natural response, which was to flinch, to recoil from such heartless words spoken so softly. 

"What was she supposed to do, just leave us?"

Cassias looked up through the fringe of his hair, voice still low. 

"Think about it, Jyn. What happens if the Empire shows up tomorrow? If we get captured when we try and leave?" He didn't spell it out, didn't need to. Jyn might have chosen hope, might have decided to pin her faith to the chance that the universe was essentially good, but she was no fool. 

If the Empire caught them, Jyn and Cassian and Bodhi would eventually tell them anything Vader wanted to know. Not Cassian, perhaps. He was likely trained for that sort of thing. Jyn laid decent odds on her stubbornness, though even that was a huge risk. Bodhi, though...

"We can't tell him," Jyn realized. Cassian shrugged, but Jyn could tell it was agreement, and relief that she'd realized on her own. 

"You and I are no strangers to this game," he finally said. "But he is. We can't risk it."

He didn't say what they were both thinking- that Bodhi, as a defector, would likely be killed on sight. They would be the ones who would have to find themselves in the wrong end of a blaster as soon as possible. Bodhi wasn't soft, wasn't a coward or a civilian. But the urge to protect him was irrationally strong, and for now, they indulged it.


End file.
